Tariq strode to the counter, bypassing the waiting line of customers. “Order for Reyna.”
“Sir, you can’t—” The young counter clerk got a good look at his face as he took of his shades and her eyes grew huge. “Yes, sir. Right away, sir.” She turned and darted to the kitchen window.
He disregarded the grumblings of the others and took the moment to glance around the establishment. As Reyna had promised, the deli was extremely busy. All the seats, inside and out, were full and the line went to the door. It was obviously a neighborhood favorite.
The girl came rushing back, placing the bag on the counter. “Here’s your order, Mr. Bastien. That will be fifteen dollars and seventy-one cents.”
“Napkins, cutlery?” he asked.
“Already in the bag,” she assured him.
“Thank you,” he said and tossed two twenties on the counter. “Keep the change.”
Once again her eyes widened in astonishment. “Yes, sir, Mr. Bastien. Thank you.”
Tariq picked up their order and turned to leave. Mind on Reyna, he didn’t notice the many cellphones and cameras that appeared to take his picture. As the High Lord Master of the Eastern portion of North America, he was used to causing a stir whenever he appeared in public.
He’d kept his end of the bond open running this errand, while Reyna’s faded in and out. She was still learning how to shield and sometimes blocked him from her thoughts accidentally. Even so, he could read her emotions and what he was picking up had him concerned.
Deciding it would take too long to walk back to her building, Tariq locked onto his Heart’s Blood position and teleported. He materialized behind Reyna in time to hear one of the women ask, “What’s he like in bed?”
“Am I interrupting?” Tariq asked dryly.
Reyna shot to her feet. “Tariq! You’re back. These are the women I told you about. Caitlyn’s one of the CPAs working in our Accounting department.” Reyna indicated a plump brunette with green eyes and a friendly smile, seated to her left.
Continuing around the table, she pointed next to a dark-skinned beauty with the long and lean body of a swimsuit model. “Delany works in Sales and Marketing.”
“Hello,” Delany said, looking him over from head-to-toe with an avarice gleam that screamed sexual interest.
Tariq nodded curtly.
“I’m Lexy,” a vivacious blonde stated, eagerly holding out a hand for Tariq to shake. “And may I just say, I love Vampaliens. I read everything I can get my hands on about them. I’m so thrilled someone I know is in a relationship with one of your kind. You guys usually keep to yourselves.”
“Lexy is one of the attorneys in our legal department,” Reyna said wryly.
Arching a brow, he said telepathically, Legal department?
She’s a shark when it comes to legal matters, Reyna assured him.
“And last but not least, this is Jacey. She’s one of the computer geniuses in our Information Technologies department, and the woman whose coin I lost. Can you get her another one?” Reyna asked innocently, unaware of the significance of her words.
Tariq’s gaze landed on the small, curvy female with respectfully lowered black eyes and masses of curly blue-black hair. Her skin was the ivory white of a person who didn’t spend much time in the sunlight, and he could feel the power in her radiating from where she sat.
“Jacey, thank you for loaning my Heart’s Blood your coin. If you’ll stop by The Gladiator, I’ll see that you’re issued another,” Tariq said. He made a mental note to check with Thor about Jacey. She was clearly Vampalien, though what an obviously unclaimed female of his kind was doing here in his territory, he didn’t know. He’d make it his business to find out.
“Yes, sir,” Jacey said softly.
Tariq noticed the other women, including Reyna, giving Jacey strange looks and knew there’d be a lot of questions for Jacey to answer as soon as he left. If she’d been posing as human, he was sorry. He hadn’t meant to out her. She was one of the ones responsible for bringing Reyna to his attention.
“Rumor has it you’re planning on buying Illuminator Incorporated? Is it true?” Delany asked flirtatiously.
“No, I’m not. Even if I were interested, I doubt Reyna would sell,” he said firmly, both to squash the rumor and any interest this human woman had in him. He shifted their food to his left hand and laid his right one possessively on his Heart’s Blood waist, showing his allegiance.
Beside him, Reyna gasped quietly. He felt her instant distress and pulled her closer to his side, glancing around for the threat. What’s wrong?
Delany rolled her eyes. “Please, as if Reyna has any say in what the company does or doesn’t do.”
They don’t know I’m one of the owners, she ‘pathed back, glancing up at him. Worry and resignation showed in her expressive eyes.
Lexy looked at Delany with patent disbelief. “You are just as stupid as you act sometimes.”
“What?” Delany said, scowling.
“You’ve worked here how many years and haven’t figured out Reyna’s the boss?” Caitlyn said.
“No, she’s not,” Delany denied.
At the same time, Reyna said, “You knew?”
Tariq felt the shock that rippled through her as she whipped around to face her friends.
“Well, duh! You work on the top floor. Your signature’s on all the contracts that come through the office,” Lexy said, as if even the simplest person could have figured it out.
“Yeah, and you sign off on all the purchases we make,” Caitlyn added.
“That doesn’t make her the boss,” Delany scoffed. “It just means she’s high up in management. Big deal. We all have important positions.”
“You never noticed how anytime we make a suggestion to Reyna on ways to improve our department, it usually gets implemented? Or how she always knows what’s going on with our pay and bonuses?” Jacey asked.
“She works in personnel,” Delany said, though she no longer sounded quite so sure of herself. “Besides, if Reyna was the owner, surely she’d have said something by now.”
“Why?” Caitlyn demanded.
Delany’s mouth fell open and her eyes pin wheeled as she sought an answer. “Because we tell each other everything. That’s why,” she said triumphantly.
Caitlyn looked at the other two. “I don’t tell you guys everything. Do you?”
“Nope,” Lexy said cheerfully.
“Neither do I,” Jacey said.
“But…but…” Delany turned a furious glare on Reyna. “You should have told me. When I think of all the things I’ve said about the people here. The complaints I’ve made. You let me make a fool of myself.”
“That’s not true.” Reyna defended herself, but Tariq could feel her guilt.
“Cut the crap, Delany. You’re just mad because you didn’t know so you couldn’t use the information to your benefit,” Caitlyn said coldly.
“Probably would have tried to manipulate Reyna into giving you a raise,” Jacey added.
Delany shoved away from the table so hard her chair flipped over. Around them conversations halted as people turned to look. “That’s just mean. I can’t believe you’d say something so cruel. I thought we were friends. I guess now I know how you really feel about me.” She pivoted on one stylishly leather shod foot and stormed off.
Reyna slumped against his side. From her he sensed relief, regret, and disappointment, but not grief.
“Don’t worry about her, Reyna,” Lexy said. “She’s just embarrassed because we all knew something she didn’t. She’ll come around.”
“She’s jealous of you,” Caitlyn said.
“Of me?” Reyna said.
“Yes, of you. You’re so confident, so content in your skin. Underneath all that partying and sleeping around is a woman who isn’t satisfied with her life. Delany knows you’re everything she’s not and it makes her crazy. She can’t come up to your level—doesn’t know how—so she tried to pull you down to hers. Now she discovers you have a man who’s crazy about you, enough that he didn’t give her a second glance, and you’re the owner of the company she works for. It was too much.” Caitlyn sighed. “I like her, but it’s because I understand her and see her for who she really is. Maybe this will force her to re-evaluate her life choices.”
Caitlyn glanced at her watch and stood, gathering their trash. “Come on, you guys. Lunch ended fifteen minutes ago. We need to go before the boss gets angry.” This last was said with a wink to Reyna.
Lexy bounced out of her seat and pulled out her cellphone. “So, can I get a picture of you two together? I promise I won’t plaster it all over the ‘net.”
Bemused, Reyna glanced at Tariq. He shrugged. Didn’t matter to him.
“Okay,” Reyna said.
“Wonderful!” Lexy held up her camera and rapidly snapped a few pictures. When she finished, she scrolled through them. “Perfect. You’re the best, Reyna.”
“Let’s go, Lexy, and leave Reyna and her man alone. I’m sure their food’s cold by now,” Caitlyn said again, waiting impatiently for the other two to join her.
“Come by The Gladiator any time to get your coin,” Tariq reminded Jacey as she walked past.
“Yes, sir,” Jacey said, bowed her head and walked away.
As soon as they were alone, Reyna pulled away from him, sank into her chair, and rested her forehead in her hand. Her posture screamed weariness. Tariq set the bag containing their lunch on the table and settled into the chair next to her.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
She sighed heavily. “Not your fault. You had no way of knowing.”
“You want to tell my why you kept your position a secret?” he asked gently.
Reyna tilted her head and peered at him with one eye. “You’ll think it’s stupid.”
“No, I won’t.” Tariq could think of several legitimate reasons not to announce she was the owner. One, it put her in the unique position of being able to find out what was going on in the various departments without people clamming up because she held their jobs in her hands.
She lowered her hand and faced him squarely. There was a hint of challenge in her tone when she said, “I didn’t tell them the truth because I’ve never had friends before, and I wanted them to like me.”
He didn’t betray by so much as a flicker of his eyelashes how deeply what she said impacted him. Every time Tariq thought he had a handle on what Reyna’s life had been like before him, something like this happened to blow him away.
“Makes sense to me,” he said evenly. “There’s no way you could know if it was you or your position they’d been attracted to if you’d done otherwise. Now you know. Three out of four is damn good odds.”
Reyna studied him through narrowed eyes. “You really don’t think I was being stupid?”
“Not at all,” he assured her. He pushed her container towards her. “Eat your food. I don’t want to be blamed for your lunch running over the time limit you’ve set.”
She stared at him a minute longer before giving him a tentative smile. “Thank you for understanding.”
“Always,” he said.
Tariq had made it his life’s mission to understand his Heart’s Blood.